The present invention relates to in-line roller skates and in particular to an adjustable axle system permitting a user to rocker the wheels and to adjust the wheelbase on an in-line roller skate.
In-line roller skates have a plurality of wheels mounted for rotation in a common plane on a chassis that is attached to a boot. The first such skates used non-adjustable axles to mount each wheel to the chassis. The axle was usually formed from a long threaded bolt and was fastened using a nut. The head of the bolt typically had sharp edges and the entire axle bolt often extended substantially beyond the nut. This presented a hazard to other skaters, skating rink surfaces and other objects.
Later these axle bolts were replaced with low profile round-headed bolts having smoother heads. These bolts were less problematic than the previous style and often used keys (eg. Allen keys) for the installation. On the "nut-side" the bolt was shortened so that the length was just sufficient to attach the nut.
Other improvements to the way axle bolts were received into the chassis were also developed. These changes permitted the axle bolts to be placed at different vertical positions thereby permitting a user to "rocker" the wheels similar to the rocker found on the blade of some ice skates.
Most of these prior art systems however, permitted only small adjustments to the rocker, which adjustments required an excessive amount of time and effort to accomplish. Often times only the most forward and most rearward wheels (skates usually have four wheels) were adjustable and then often into only one of two positions. This degree of adjustment was not sufficient to accommodate the preferences of a wide number of skaters. No skates are known which provided for adjustments to the wheelbase of the skate.
The limited amount of rockering was especially inadequate for certain specialized uses including the rapidly expanding number of competitive events using in-line roller skates. Furthermore, the degree of effort and time required to make these limited rockering adjustments proved especially onerous in a competitive environment.
It would therefore be desirable to have a fastening system to attach wheel axles (and thus wheels) to the chassis of an in-line roller skate which provided for a greater degree of adjustment of rocker and wheelbase to suit a user's preference, while making such adjustments an easier task.